Rail passengers to benefit from ‘one-click’ compensation READ MORE HERE: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/rail-passengers-to-benefit-from-one-click-compensation

Post-Monarch review finds too many passengers flying unprotected READ MORE HERE: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/post-monarch-review-finds-too-many-passengers-flying-unprotected

New independent appeals process to protect passengers issued with penalty fares READ MORE HERE: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-independent-appeals-process-to-protect-passengers-issued-with-penalty-fares

Airline Insolvency Review to examine protection for air passengers READ MORE HERE: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/airline-insolvency-review-to-examine-protection-for-air-passengers

An elderly relative of mine book train and ferry to Ireland via Hollyhead. She got all relative train connections as quoted on tickets when she got to Holyhead the ferry had left without her. The customer service at ferry port said it was train fault. She been in contact with customers services at Irish Ferry port and they also said it not their fault and she is responsible for making it on time to get ferry out she and other passagers had got off train and went to ferry port to find check in had closed. Surely the ferry should not have left without all passengers and train should have infromed them there were passengers on train for ferry. Irish ferries were not concern and said it was her fault for not making it on time. They seem not to want to take any responsibility for passagers once fare been paid. This meant waiting at ferry port for hours and longer on ferry time on ferry 2 hrs extra. Any suggestion go forward with compaint would be appreciated.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home

The Consumer Rights Act (CRA) will apply in full to all transport services, including mainline rail passenger services, from next month, allowing passengers to challenge the amount of compensation they are offered by rail companies. From the start of next month, under the Consumer Rights Act, passengers will be able to ask for their money back by going to a local county court if they are not happy with the way a rail operator has dealt with their request for compensation. Long-suffering commuters will also be allowed to demand that compensation is paid in cash rather than train vouchers. Under existing guidelines most train operators only offer a ‘delay repay’ deal which allows passengers to claim the cost of half a single journey for delays of more than half an hour – or the full one-way ticket price if held up for over an hour. It is only if a train is cancelled, or a vital connection missed, that a full refund of a return journey will be paid. These refunds are not automatic – you must fill in a form first – and they are currently paid in train journey vouchers. The new rules will allow passengers to demand all their money back if they believe the compensation offered is inadequate – or they believe they deserve a full refund as the service fell well short of what they had expected. Read more: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-3783016/Delayed-leaves-line-train-company-court.html#ixzz4KtQ6t3ff

Train companies are still failing to provide customers with accurate information about delay compensation, new research by the rail regulator has found. The research is in response to a super-complaint issued by Which? in December 2015 that highlighted how badly some train companies were letting down their passengers. The Office of Road and Rail (ORR) investigation has agreed with Which? that rail passengers are being doubly disadvantaged by train delays as the claims process for compensation is neither clear nor straightforward. One company even openly admitted that it’s not in its best interest to promote compensation to its passengers. How to claim refunds for train delays and cancellations Don’t miss out on the compensation you’re entitled to if your train is delayed. Use our guide to find out how much train delay compensation you’re due and how to claim it. http://www.which.co.uk/news/2016/03/train-companies-still-failing-millions-of-passengers-436881/

Delayed airline passengers are potentially missing out on millions of pounds of compensation, according to an investigation by Which?. The consumer group found that between June 2014 and May 2015, 37 million passenger journeys to or from the UK were delayed by 15 minutes or more. About 900,000 people could be eligible for compensation, but only around 38% of them ever claim, Which? found. Passengers delayed for over three hours are entitled to up to 600 euros (£422). Those protected by the Denied Boarding Regulation have to be flying with an EU-based airline or flying from an EU airport. More than 9,000 flights are delayed for three hours or more each year, the group said, with an average of 97 passengers on each flight. Which? director of campaigns Alex Neill told BBC 5 live: "We want people to assert their rights and hold their airline to account for those delays and claim the compensation that they are owed." http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33833059

Train companies are being forced to offer commuters the cheapest rail fares possible, following criticism that passengers can pay an excess of £100 when purchasing tickets at self-service machines instead of paying at a ticket counter. The changes, which are expected to be implemented by March, are aimed at ending the anomaly in prices available at the counter, where staff have access to a complex database of fares, discounts and promotions, and the more limited options in a self-service machines. Some machines have been found to promote expensive fares, bury cheaper options and do not apply discounts for groups or families, leading to a difference in train prices of up to £100, according to the Daily Telegraph. As a first step, they must label all self-service machines by March to warn passengers they could save money by using the counter service. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/rail-bosses-told-to-show-passengers-how-to-get-cheapest-tickets-9952838.html

Rail passengers are routinely being denied the cheapest fares when they buy tickets at stations, The Telegraph can disclose. Self-service machines — which are used to purchase almost a quarter of all tickets sold annually — offer wildly different fares, an investigation by this newspaper shows. Customers buying from a machine can pay more than £200 when a ticket for the same destination can be found elsewhere at the station for more than £100 cheaper. For example, at machines run by train company Northern Rail in Leeds, passengers buying a First-Class Anytime Return to Birmingham were charged £271. Only feet away, an East Coast trains machine offered the same journey using a First-Class Off-peak Return for £145.70. This type of ticket is not available for customers using Northern Rail’s machines, which means that some passengers might not be aware that they could save £125.30 by travelling off-peak. The Telegraph investigation examined rail fares across the country and found that customers were being offered different prices for the same journey depending on which operator’s machine they used. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/road-and-rail-transport/11175688/Rail-ticket-rip-off-passengers-routinely-denied-cheapest-fares.html The best way to ensure you don't get ripped off is to buy your ticket at the ticket office. Ticket office clerks are required by law to offer the cheapest tickets, regardless of which company they work for.

First time posting. Hi Good Morning all. Thanks for taking the time to read this. I’m a regular London transport user and greatly appreciate the wonderful public transport we have here in London. My question relates to what a persons rights are in the event of a mistake. Yesterday I was on one of our new Route Master buses and some ticket inspectors got on. They did their rounds and when they came to a woman sitting on the other side of the isle adjacent to me she presented her Oyster card. The female inspector scanned the card and then informed the woman: “You don’t have enough money on this card. There’s only 60p on here. I ’m going to have to take your name and address”. As I sat there listening to this I was a little surprised as at no point in time did either ticket inspector offer the woman the chance to pay the difference or additional .085p owed fare. The other thing that crossed my mind was the first thing the woman stated to them was “But I scanned in?” I t reminded me of an occasion when I was using a Cash Oyster on the tube many a couple of years ago and it let me enter the tube and the electronic gates opened but it wasn’t until I got to my destination that they wouldn't open. I spoke to a ticket inspector who told me to go to the "fares window" and was told I didn’t have enough money on the card. I topped up and was on my way without problem and didn’t think twice of it again until yesterday. Most people have some common sense and if you listen and observe a situation carefully you can notice quiet a lot that you may not notice if aggravated or flustered or upset. I could tell that the woman was really shocked by the situation. She felt so embarrassed and yet she sat there quietly, s he didn’t protest and wasn’t rude in anyway to the inspectors and volunteered information to all the questions they asked. She provided some photo ID but I guess it wasn’t a valid form of ID as they then rang someone to try and confirm who she was. She was the complete opposite to the typical foulmouthed, cocky aggressive person who's looking for a way out of the situation which you can tell they only have them selves to blame for as someone trying to fare dodge. As I listened the inspectors then started asking her who else lived at the address she gave and was this her real address. What system are they using to check and what if you’ve just moved or are a tourist or foreigner? All of this was happening on the top deck of a full bus which only had two seats on the top deck that were empty. The ticket inspectors then sat in those two seats and as passengers got on to the bus and came upstairs they then had to go back down stairs as there where no seats for them to sit in! Now fare paying passengers couldn’ sit in the available seats and other passengers who had paid there fares where starting to get upset at the way the inspectors were acting. So it got me thinking that in todays world with TFL so desperate and adamant to catch fare dodgers and crooks of any kind, they seem to make little or no allowance for a genuine mistake or flaws in their own system. What are travelling passengers rights if a genuine mistake is made? 1. Why does the Oyster system allow you board a bus or enter the Underground and make a journey with insufficient funds in the first place? Taking into account late night travel when gates are open anyway or emergencies, surely denying you access in the middle of the day in first place informs you you haven’t got enough money and also stops you getting into a situation where it appears you’re as guilty as a fraudster by making a simple mistake. After all, everyday humans make mistakes... no one is perfect. Even the Police and the Courts get it wrong sometimes. 2. Do you have the right to pay the difference or what is owed? Please correct me if I’m wrong but I thought even a shop lifter had to be offered the opportunity to pay for the goods they were taking or face arrest? 3. Do you have the right to leave the bus immediately and deal with the inspectors outside? 4. Should you and is it right to provide details of other people who live at your address? I appreciate that in certain circumstances this may aid in proving who you are but this now involves others who may or may not want to be known at that address. . for criminal or genuine reasons alike. 5. Are there any Lawyers on here who act on behalf of Tfl or the Defendants, whom could add their comments and opinions relating to how you should act if a genuine mistake is made. If you were a lawyer and made a genuine mistake, how would you have dealt with this situation? I really felt for this woman, whom in my honest opinion had just jumped on a bus, swiped her Oyster and sat down not knowing she had made a mistake. I appreciate that as inspectors they deal day in and day out with criminals and fraudsters trying anything and everything to evade the fare, the law and the fine but I felt this woman was criminalised in public without any attempt to offer her to correct her error and pay the difference. It really isn’t any of my business or problem... until it happens to me. Your Thoughts please?

I couldnt believe I was seeing this when I was watching the news !! http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2432593/Gang-deliberately-crashed-bus-500-000-cash-crash-[problem]-guilty-fraud.html

Hi all, I have recently read about a successful complaint to Ryanair in regards to UK customers paying more for the exact same flights as EU customers. (I'm unable to post a link here, but if you google Ryanair Price Difference Euros, a Daily Mail article comes up which is what I read) Since I became resident in the UK from Ireland 7 years ago, I have taken countless flights with Ryanair and am extremely curious to know if I have been overcharged! Does anyone on here know how I would find this out? As the flights are in the past, it's difficult to compare exact costs in sterling vs euros, but any pointers would be appreciated. Thanks all, Darina